TTD Prasadam Exempted From GST

The richest shrine in the country, the Tirumala temple takes up many service activities with the revenue it gets, hence the GST Council decided to exempt prasadam from GST.

New Delhi: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council decided to exempt laddu prasadam and human hair at the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) from the tax net on the request of Andhra Pradesh government.

Finance Minister of AP, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu who attended the 17th GST Council meeting reportedly said that as the TTD is a reputed religious trust involved in services of lakhs of devotees on a regular basis, it should be exempted from GST registration.

According to a leading daily, the Council has also reduced the originally proposed GST rates on agarbathis, biogas and cashew nut from 12% to 5%.

This move came after, TTD requested the Centre to exempt the ingredients that it purchases for making laddus and other prasadams from GST.

Another report earlier said that the TTD had also requested that items used for pooja and serving pilgrims at choultries, guest houses, besides the sale of human hair and other revenue sources of the temple board also be exempt from tax.

TTD had already been granted immunity under VAT by the State government.

If the GST was imposed an annual additional burden on TTD would have been ₹ 70 crores the accounts department of TTD said.